London Nationals defeat St. Thomas Stars

Max Vinogradov (middle) celebrates his first period goal against the St. Thomas Stars with London Nationals teammates Derek Di Iorio (left) and Josh Coyle at the Timken Centre in St. Thomas. (DEREK RUTTAN, The London Free Press)

London Nationals celebrate the first goal of the game against St. Thomas Stars goalie Anthony Hurtubise at the Timken Centre in St. Thomas. (DEREK RUTTAN, The London Free Press)

London Nationals forward Colin Wilson is squished between Cal Horvat and Matt Couto of the St. Thomas Stars in the first period of their game at the Timken Centre in St. Thomas. (DEREK RUTTAN, The London Free Press)

The London Nationals are kings of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Western Conference for a third straight season thanks to a 4-1 victory and four-game championship final sweep before 700 Tuesday in St. Thomas.

The first-place Nats — 12-2 in the playoffs so far — never trailed once in the series and held the fifth-seeded Stars to just four goals, total.

London’s Brenden Trottier and Max Vinogradov scored in the first period to put St. Thomas in catchup mode once more. The Stars got one back in the second from Adam Keyes, but Jack Webb added third-period insurance veteran defender Derek Di Iorio sealed the Bill Weir Trophy with an empty-net goal with one second left.

“It comes down to the buy-in the guys have,” London GM/coach Pat Powers said. “They’re willing to sacrifice their bodies and they know they’re not going to win every game 6-1. We’re going to have to buckle down and win those 2-1 games. We want to make it difficult on teams to get goals on us.

“That’s been a team — and goaltender (David Ovsjannikov) — effort.”

The Nationals didn’t win once in three trips to St. Thomas during the regular season, but they outscored the Stars by a combined 11-3 at the Timken Community Centre in the final.

“We knew we had to come in here and play some solid hockey,” Powers said. “These guys were a real tough team in their barn and we hadn’t had success here. It’s always nice winning in four straight to give the guys time to enjoy the victory, then refocus and move on.”

The Nationals know the drill.

With this victory, they qualify for the Sutherland Cup semifinal round again. Their most likely foe is Listowel, who has a 3-0 series lead in their Midwestern Conference final against Elmira with Game 4 set for Wednesday.

The Stars, 8-8 in the playoffs, are eliminated from wild-card contention. That will go to the Sugar Kings (currently 8-5) if they don’t roar back against the Cyclones.

Caledonia (12-1) already cemented its spot with a sweep of St. Catharines (8-7) in the Golden Horseshoe final and they’ll go into the semis as the No. 1 seed, ahead of London.

“We’re the best team of a nine-team conference and that’s not to be taken lightly,” Powers said. “We’ve done it three years in a row and we continue to expect to do that. We have to start to realize there is a bigger prize here and we’re buckling down and preparing properly for that.”

Under Powers and director of hockey operations Tim Simmons, London has built a junior B powerhouse.

The only thing missing in this dominant three-year run is a Cup title. They made it to the final the last two years, only to fall to Elmira last year and Caledonia in 2016.

Win or lose this time, the Nationals want to be knocking on the door again a year from now.

“I hope so,” Powers said. “Guys come here because we’ve built this expectation that we’ll be competitive and give them a chance to win. We obviously look for characteristics when we build this team and every guy demonstrated that character during this playoff run and in this series.”

NEW KING IN PLACE: The Komoka Kings have hired veteran coach Ron Horvat for the 2018-19 season, replacing ex-Knight Brian Dobbin.

Horvat has coached junior B in London, St. Thomas and, most recently, Chatham. His Maroons were the only team to beat the Nationals this spring, falling in six in the conference semifinal.

“Ron brings a wealth of knowledge and hockey experience to our team,” Komoka owner/GM Roop Chanderdat said. “He not only has a ton of coaching experience but is well respected in the local hockey community.”

Kings assistants Jason Williams, Jason Stacey and Jake Jeffrey will not return to the club.

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